This story revolves around Matilda “Tilly” Beeston, whose a strait-laced, twenty-two year old, Olivia “Liv”, her controlling but ailing mother and Tilly’s stepbrother, Conrad Raleigh Beeston, III. But don’t let the hoity-toity moniker fool you–he is simply known as Beast. He’s a pretty mysterious man, just returning from a second tour of duty in Afghanistan, in the Marines, as well as a military policeman. Although big as a house, ripped with muscles and a nearly permanent scowl, he’s got issues. And although Ms. Kitt grazes his military history in the beginning, you know that he has seen and experienced a lot of horrific things, no doubt suffers from PTSD, as well as the suicide of his father in 2008, he is very tight-lipped about it all.
Tilly’s history with her stepbrother is no less tumultuous. She’s always felt like she was less than from her mother, who seems to favor Beast, her stepson, more than her own daughter. Tilly doesn’t seem to know her own worth. Nevertheless, Tilly has moments of stubbornness, extreme curiousity when it comes to Beast, as well as innocence. It made me feel sorry for her although there were times when I was exasperated by her. She did act like an annoying kid sister. But I felt a lot of empathy for her as well because of her family dynamic.
They alternate between guilt and hostility as it pertains to their relationship. I don’t like to give away a lot in reviews but the title of Ms. Kitt’s novel kind of goes there. Some readers don’t like description. I actually do and I enjoyed how she delves into why the characters are the way they are. Ms. Kitt’s descriptive terms and phrases will have you simultaneously laugh and blush. The title is Step Beast (Military Bad Boy BBW BDSM Billionaire Stepbrother Romance). I can’t say that I know what BBW stands for but the rest of it stands for Bondage Discipline Sadism and Masochism, so you know what the book is about–it is about that world. And I’ll admit, I thought that that’s what this book was all about.
However, halfway through the book, I discovered that there are many twists and turns that surprised me and there’s more to it than just that. It was very interested to see how Ms. Kitt weaved those issues together, several of them totally blindsiding me.
The book is longish for me and it takes me longer than it used to to complete books because of my own schedule but this book is worth reading if you like contemporary fiction, alternative lifestyles or at the very least, learning what they are about, with some suspense thrown in.